


Worth It

by CallMeHopeless



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Self-Worth, bit of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 02:50:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15354588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeHopeless/pseuds/CallMeHopeless
Summary: Draco decides to cut all the toxic people out of his life, thinking he deserves better. He doesn't take into account that better comes in the form of one Harry Potter.





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Drabble I posted on Tumblr today... thought I might post it here as well to have it all together :) Hope you like it!

For the first time in his life, Draco Malfoy is truly alone. And for the first time in his life, he is completely and totally okay with that fact. Because he is the one who decided he was going to be alone.

 

First, he cut Pansy out of his life who repeatedly told him how much she hated his new hair when Draco was very happy with the way it was shorter at the sides and longer on the top and falling freely into his face. The moment he looked into the mirror, questioning himself because of something she had said was the moment he thought _You know what? No. If she wants to be my friend she'll bloody way accept the way I wear my hair and if she doesn't... she doesn't deserve me._

When she kept nagging him that he looked like a Muggle rentboy with that hair of his, he'd had enough and politely but firmly told her to stay away from him.

 

Next, he had a row with Blaise. About Draco's choice of wanting to get a flat in Muggle London. For privacy. So that he could feel able to live again. Blaise didn't understand any of that and was busy kissing the arses of Ministry officials and socialites alike and Draco had just had it, when Blaise suggested he _get it on_ with members of the Wizengamot just to bring back some honour to the Malfoy name. “I am not a whore,” he grit out and left Blaise standing at the charity function alone, making clear that their friendship was over.

 

Now that he is alone, he's asking himself if he's made the right choice. And then he remembers what he'd said to himself in the mirror one day: _They don't deserve me._

And he didn't deserve to be treated that badly. He knows that what he'd done in his life was wrong but that didn't mean he had to suffer forever. He decided that he'll just have to find someone worth his time.

 

The first time he runs into Potter at his local Muggle coffee shop, he doesn't think anything of it. It's just Potter, after all. He does enjoy it though, when Potter invites him to sit at his table and even pulls the chair out for Draco.

 

That first time turns into weekly coffee dates and Draco still pretends like they are not friends. Still refers to him as “Potter”, even though he finds himself being called by his given name. Most days, Potter already has his coffee ready for him. And then one time, there is a pastry.

“What is this?” Draco asks, confused.

Harry just shrugs.

“You said you had a job interview today and I wanted to get you a celebratory pastry.”

“But.. you don't know how it went.”

Harry shrugs again.

“Don't have to. Interviews are nervous little buggers and you need a bit of sugary goodness regardless of how it went.”

 

Draco feels out of his depth because he's never experienced kindness of this kind. Thoughtfulness. The fact that Harry thought about his emotions and acted accordingly. Draco doesn't want to think about the strange pull he feels in his stomach everytime Harry smiles at him. He can't, he tries to convince himself. It will end like the others.

 

Harry takes Draco out to see a Muggle play one evening and brings two jackets. Draco laughs and Harry just cracks a smile.

“You realise it's only August, Potter? You won't seriously need two jackets.”

Harry shrugs – a favourite gesture of his.

“I brought one in case you get cold after the performance. It won't be quite as warm later.”

And just like that, Draco feels like all the air has been punched out of him.

He doesn't remark that they are wizards and there were such things as heating charms.

Draco finds himself biting his lip a lot. Which is something he does when he is nervous. And he is nervous because he doesn't quite understand what is happening with Harry Potter.

He can't be that nice, can he? Especially when Draco is never as attentive back? And it does make him feel like an absolute prick that he is never as attentive back so he thinks about what he can do to reciprocate.

He ends up making a terrible mistake. Well, maybe not so terrible after all.

 

They are at a Muggle supermarket and Harry is buying ingredients for his dinner.

They had just gotten out of the coffee shop and Harry insisted that it would just take a minute and he only needed two things. Which is why he didnt take a trolley either. And now, his arms are full of products. Draco is amazed that he can still see where he is going.

This is his chance, Draco thinks and slowly starts:

“Can I... can I hold something for you, Potter?”

Harry looks at him long and calculating before he starts shifting all of his items onto one arm and holds out his hand.

Draco stares at it confused.

“What...”

Harry half-shrugs due to the mountain of veggies in his arm.

“You asked if you can hold something.”

Very unsure of himself and as if Harry will start laughing any second now, Draco slowly edges forward and takes Harry's hand as if in a professional handshake. Harry twists their hands until their fingers are linked and gives Draco a small smile.

Meanwhile, Draco's heart is beating a mile per hour and his breath comes in shallow pants. Is this really happening?

Harry squeezes his hand softly.

“Have dinner with me,” he says and waits.

Draco says nothing for a moment, too caught up in his web of – is it worth it?

He knows Harry knows about Pansy and Blaise because he'd told him in a moment of weakness but he still doesn't expect it, when he says:

“You won't know if I'm worth it if you don't try.”

Draco finally nods and whispers “okay”, before holding on to Potter's hand like he's drowning and that hand is the only thing that keeps him above water. And he thinks, he thinks that Potter might just be worth it after all.

 

 

Dinner is a quiet affair. Mostly because Draco doesn't know what to say. He keeps watching Harry from his seat at the kitchen table. Keeps being confused about that small smile that seems to be charmed onto Harry's face constantly. He isn't sure what put it there. It can hardly be him, can it?

Draco scolds himself. This is not the time to get insecure, he decides.

But he isn't really sure if he is worth it. Because Potter has been really attentive and nice and Draco... has been rambling about all of the people he didn't want in his life. Over and over and over again.

 

He clears his throat and Harry turns around from the stove where he just put some chopped onions into a pot.

“Yeah?” he asks, still smiling.

“Potter, is this a date?”

Harry snorts.

“Well yes, Malfoy, it is a date. I thought I'd made that quite clear when I held your hand while asking you to have dinner with me.”

He turns around fully.

“Why? Have you changed your mind?”

Draco shakes his head. Breathes in, then out, then in again.

“No, I suppose I'm just wondering... why?”

“Why what?”

“Why you asked me to have dinner with you.”

Harry crosses his arms in front of his chest and Draco recognises the defence mechanism behind the gesture.

“Well, I like you. A lot. And if a person likes another person they usually ask them out to dinner. For a date,” he says, voice suddenly strained and Draco wants nothing more than to put the smile back on Harry's face.

Instead, he nods.

“Yes... ugh, I mean. I don't really know how to ask this.”

“With words,” Harry smirks. The smirk is only half hearted and sets Draco further on edge.

“I suppose I want to know why you like me. Because all I've done was tell you how people in my life weren't worth it and I realise that I must have sounded... must sound like an arrogant tosspot to you. To anyone really. And then you were so attentive and got me the pastry and I... I never got you one. And I suppose what I'm asking is... is... why you would think that I would be worth your time.”

 

He closes his eyes, suddenly dizzy with the sensation of having voiced his thoughts.

 

When he opens them, the smile on Harry's face is back.

 

“Oh Draco,” he says and de-crosses his arms, lets them fall to his sides.

“Yes, you ranted about people not being worth it. And you know what? You are right about that. And you want to know what else? That is precisely why I like you. I like you because you have a strong will. I like you because you had the strength to cut people from your life you've known for most of it because they made you feel bad. I admire you for that. More than I can even put into words. You had all of these people telling you what to do and how to be and you just said fuck 'em. That's sort of amazing. _You_ are amazing. As for you being worth my time...” he pauses and snorts, “have you told me you don't like my hair?”

 

Draco shakes his head.

 

“Have you told me to kiss up to people for, I don't know, career opportunities?”

 

Draco shakes his head again.

 

“So you are neither Pansy nor Blaise. You accept me just as I am and you kind of always have. I mean yeah, you made fun of me quite a lot when we were younger but that was expected of us, yeah? And then you were simply terrified. But when we ran into each other all these weeks ago, you didn't judge me for not doing anything the rest of the Wizarding World expected me to do. You didn't judge me for breaking it off with Ginny. You let me ramble on about my inability to choose one career path more than once and have accepted which ever way I was leaning towards that day. You get me. And you don't treat me any special. And that makes you bloody well worth my time.”

 

“Potter,” Draco breathes, suddenly overcome by such strong emotions that he doesn't know how to reply.

 

“You want to be more 'worth it'? You want to do nice things for me?” Harry asks and looks directly at Draco.

“Try calling me by my first name. I think that would be quite enough.”

 

Draco nods, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before saying:

“Okay, H-harry.”

 

The name only comes shakily over his lips. He's been thinking of him as Harry in his head for a long time but actually saying it out loud made him squeamish.

When he looks into Harry's face however and sees the bright wonder there, the widened eyes and the parted lips, he knows that he did the right thing.

 

He is even more sure of it, when hysteric laughter bubbles out of Harry as he crosses the space between them, cups Draco's face in his hands and kisses him. And kisses him. And kisses him.

Draco is almost dizzy when he fists Harry's shirt, scared of letting go.

Harry still smiles as he presses soft kisses to Draco's jaw and cheek and the corner of his mouth before claiming his lips again.

 

“Never has anything felt this worth it in my life,” Harry breathes when they finally part and let their foreheads lean together, panting.

 

“It feels perfect,” Draco says. Because it does.

 

He thinks of all the complications that a relationship between them could pose. He thinks of Harry's angry fans, of angry supporters, of the Weasleys... but he doesn't dwell on it. Because he thinks that whatever the world might throw at them, having Harry like this would be worth all of it.

 

 

 


End file.
